Pony Gets New Look For 2010 Ford Mustang

Ford's upcoming 2010 Mustang will be the first to receive a redesigned pony badge. While details concerning the new Mustang are scanty, the fact of the new badge may give us an insight into what we can expect from the car itself.

Naturally the design team has plenty to say of their latest creation, with chief designer Douglas Gaffka outlining the changes;

“We wanted to give the Mustang pony a more realistic feel. We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse, It’s more realistic in terms of proportion to an actual Mustang.”

The new badge will adorn the grilles of the V6 and GT versions of the 2010 Mustang and, for the first time in the badge's long history, a black-chrome version will make an appearance on the new GT grille.

Phil Clark penned the original badge prior to the 1964 release of the Mustang I. A refined version then made an appearance for the Mustang II in 1974, courtesy of Charles Keresztes, a former member of Hungary’s Olympic equestrian team. 1978 saw the the pony replaced by 'FORD' in block letters through to 1982, when the iconic Ford 'Blue Oval' graced the front of Mustangs through to 1993. The pony emblem returned in 1994 with some refinements and was again updated in 2005.

Though subtle, the changes suggest a new edge to Ford thinking. If the 2010 Mustang follows the same design ethos then there are some good things on the horizon.